The two major topics that I want to discuss in this blog are A Midsummer Night’s Dream and the Tate Modern Art Museum, so let’s get into it.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream was entertaining and colorful. I started off sitting in our assigned seats for the first act and then I moved to the “groundling” area for the second. It was a completely different experience from both places, and I would love to stand for another one of Shakespeare’s plays because it was entertaining leaning up against the stage and interacting with the actors (we were so close we could even smell them. It was kind of weird). I thought the costuming was colorful and fun, and the bright colors meshed well with the slightly techno music playing in the background. The music was a whole other thing. It created this cool ominous feeling, but it also had a touch of club music to it. Puck even started a mosh pit at one point in the play. The acting was playful and entertaining. The only thing I didn’t like was the choice of footwear for some of the characters because it looked like they were wearing tennis shoes with paint splatter on it.
Overall Score: 9.5/10
Set: there wasn’t really a set, but I thought the actors interacted with the stage well. I’m not going to include a score for this this time.
Costumes: 9/10 (minus a point for the shoes)
Acting/blocking: 10/10
Now on to the Tate Modern Art Museum. We were asked to find at least two paintings that made us feel something or that we were attracted to, and my two paintings were Interior by Alberto Giacometti and The Invisibles by Yves Tanguy. I liked the first painting because it felt very alive. The brushstrokes conveyed movement through the space, and the colors that were used made the scene feel calm like the moment just before everyone starts to wake up and the house is quiet. I felt peaceful and at rest while viewing this painting.
The second painting makes less sense than the first, and the surrealist type of art reminded me of Salvador Dali’s The Persistence of Memory. I liked this one because of the depth it conveyed. The blotchy background looks like mountains if you squint hard enough, and then the objects in the foreground are interacting with each other in a way that makes the painting feel alive. I don’t exactly know what it was about this painting that drew me to it, but I stopped and watched it for awhile.
After we finished at the museum, we got lunch at a pub called The Anchor, and we went to Daunt Bookshop. I found a new book, and we made our way back to Russel Square for a relaxing evening. Overall, it was a pretty chill day, and I think my body definitely needed the rest.
Today we went to Bath where we explored the Roman Baths, and I got to go inside the Jane Austen museum. I only got to go through the giftshop though because after a fantastic lunch at a tiny Italian restaurant, there wasn’t enough time to go through the museum before our time to go through the Roman Baths. I definitely want to go back and explore more because I didn’t feel like I had enough time for the city. While we were there, I got hit by another pigeon, so I have now been hit by two pigeons and almost “attacked” by a monkey. I’ve started a running tally of animal incidents that I will update as they occur.
After Bath, a group of us literally sprinted to go see The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. It’s about a man who ages backwards, and the music reminded me of sailor shanties. It was by far my favorite play we’ve seen so far, and all of the actors were insanely talented. They each played instruments in the play (some played two or three) and they had lovely voices. The acting was also some of the best I have seen thus far, and the lighting designer of this play deserves a raise because it was beautiful. I give this play a 10/10, and it doesn’t need a breakdown of scores because it was tens across the board.
One exciting moment at the theater happened during intermission. I was going to the restroom when I saw someone who looked awfully familiar. The longer I looked the more I finally realized that Rebel Wilson was at the theater. I was about five feet away from her, and we made eye contact. I might have freaked her out because I’m pretty sure my mouth dropped open when I realized it was her, but it was still pretty cool to be in the same room as her. We didn’t get a picture though because the look she gave me back seemed to say “please don’t say anything just keep going on with your day” so we left her alone.
It was a pretty cool day even though this “hay fever” is slowly killing us all. Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you next time ❤
Theatre in London U of A 